The infamous Rare Luxating Patella

[dshank1]

 

Good Morning All, 

 Thank you very much for this thread it has proven to be most helpful for me this morning. My 13 month old Roadie was diagnosed yesterday with Stage 2  Luxating Patella. My Roadie is a very active kitty and has been since we found her on the side of the road Thanksgiving Day 2014 while we were starting our holiday ride (we're cyclist).  I will more than likely schedule her surgery for January as I will be on a week of vacation and help her during this time. 

​I feel better knowing that others have had this issue with their fur babies and the results are all positive. Now I will start my purchases for her "recovery hotel crate" 

I will keep everyone updated once my Roadie has surgery ...... Thank you for making this cat mama feel better 

~Deborah 

Good Morning All  & Happy New Year! 

My Roadie is going in for surgery this morning and I have a lot of nervous energy! Seems like after her diagnosis her knee popped out more maybe because of the way they manipulated the leg for the x-rays. I've prepared for her arrival home with a soft sided cage for her to reside in at night time & when we go to work.Will post pics later this evening.  

 

[rubberboots]

Hope all is well, I know with our little girl if the knee popped out, I would pick her up and support her rear legs and I would feel it pop back in. I would put her down and she would be fine until it happened again. Any updates on how roadie is doing?

 

[dshank1]

 
Hope all is well, I know with our little girl if the knee popped out, I would pick her up and support her rear legs and I would feel it pop back in. I would put her down and she would be fine until it happened again. Any updates on how roadie is doing?

Thank you for the thoughts. Today we hit the 1 week mark since her surgery and she is doing really well. The first night was the hardest because she was out of it from the surgery and had to stay in the soft sided cage "her penthouse"  I bought for her. The past week has been complete bed rest and isolation with only coming out to eat, drink and use the litter box (she won't use the one in the cage). Her  bandage was taken off this past Tuesday and she will have her stitches out on Monday. She will still have very restricted (21 days) activity (she's a hyper kitty) and will stay in the cage when we are not at home. Even though I hate giving medicine, I think once her e-collar comes off she will still need her little pink pill (sedation).  She is walking around a little better and the incision is healing nicely. 

Even though she was diagnosed as a Stage 2, not even two days later she was having the surgery. Her little knee would pop out and she would stretch to get it back in to place, it was hurting me knowing that she was having an issue.

After this ordeal, I'm very thankful that I took bough pet insurance for her. I wish I would have done it with my 17 year Persian, it would have helped when she had her pancreatic issue almost 2 years ago. 

I hope your little one gets better soon. 

 

[rubberboots]

Sorry for taking so long to reply, good to hear she's doing well. With ours, she had the surgery 3.5 years ago now and with the way she runs and jumps you would never know she had an issue. The hardest part for us was keeping her from getting to rambunctious. We would take her out of her cage when we were sitting on the couch watching tv and let her curl up with us. It took a while to heal but it was worth it.

 

[blklagoon]

Hi again! A question for those who've had the surgeries. Maila is now 4 months past the first knee surgery and 2 months past the second one. I have her still in her crate at night when I sleep and when I go to work, but otherwise she roams in the room free. The bed is a very low futon and I've allowed her to jump on it. She's also started to jump up on top if her crate, the rascal! She is showing no signs of it bothering her and no more limp. The her said it would take 4-6 months PER KNEE to be ok for more activity like jumping. But I feel that's kind of too long. Did anyone keep their cat basically inactive for 4-6 months?

 

[blklagoon]

Hi again! A question for those who've had the surgeries. Maila is now 4 months past the first knee surgery and 2 months past the second one. I have her still in her crate at night when I sleep and when I go to work, but otherwise she roams in the room free. The bed is a very low futon and I've allowed her to jump on it. She's also started to jump up on top if her crate, the rascal! She is showing no signs of it bothering her and no more limp. The her said it would take 4-6 months PER KNEE to be ok for more activity like jumping. But I feel that's kind of too long. Did anyone keep their cat basically inactive for 4-6 months?

*
The *vet said, sorry for the typo.

 

[catpack]

I was told to keep Holly on strict confinement for 6 weeks after the second surgery, then a *slow* introduction back to full activity.

She was initially released into a bedroom with absolutely no furniture and just allowed to walk around. We also started physical therapy. I believe she was allowed to start jumping on low surfaces about 10-12 weeks after the last surgery. We slowly increased the heights she was allowed to jump.

All in all, I believe it was about 6 months (after first surgery) before she was back to full activity.

I was told it is easy for them to become too active once out of the crate and they can reinjure the leg if they do not land just right. I followed out surgeon's instructions to a T so that there would be extremely minimal chance that she would need a repeat surgery.

 

[dshank1]

Hi there 

It has now been 2 months since my Roadie had her surgery. I kept her in a crate for about 2-3 weeks and then let her free roam. I would her keep her in my room when I went to work because there was very limited jumping that she could do in there. At night time she would actually put herself to bed in the crate and sleep all night. When she got a little too crazy, she would go in a time out in her cage and then she would calm down(she's a very hyper kitty). It has now been 2 months since her surgery and while I have not put back up her kitty condo, she is almost back to 100%. She still stretches out her leg when she lays on the floor but she runs and jumps normal without limping.  I'm still very cautious (that's the mom in me)  but it was really hard to keep her isolated. I believe each situation is different, so I hope you kitty is healing well. 

 

[Margret]

I've never actually dealt with luxating patella in a cat, but I'm the daughter of a physical therapist (for humans, but it translates), and I can answer a few of the questions people have.

1. If you're told to give your cat physical therapy, and feel that the recommended therapy is inappropriate for a cat, ask for a referral to a veterinary physical therapist, and ask him or her about it.  Your vet is not a P.T..  Ask the expert.
2. If the physical therapist tells you to do it, do it, if at all possible.  If you have problems, ask the P.T. for advice in dealing with them.  It's never a good idea to disobey a physical therapist.
3. Cold for the first few days after surgery is intended to reduce both swelling and pain.  Heat is to relax, to reduce pain, and to make sure the patient doesn't get a chill.  Hot and cold contrast will increase circulation to the area for quicker healing.  (Cold forces blood out of the area, then heat draws it in.)  For human injuries, such as sprains, the usual advice is to apply only cold for the first few days after injury, as applying heat too soon can actually increase swelling.  After that, hot and cold contrast to speed healing.  Ask your P.T. about this if you have problems with it.  In my personal experience, cold tends to increase pain, not reduce it, as it increases tension, but this is a personal idiosyncrasy.  Cold does usually tend to produce numbness, and anything that reduces swelling will also reduce pain.
4. Hot and cold contrast is done thusly (at least for humans -- ask your cat's P.T. for feline details):

• Always begin with cold and end with heat, to prevent chilling.
• Cold (usually an ice cube or ice water for humans, probably a soft cold pack for cats) for 30 seconds, max., followed by heat for two or three minutes.  Generally hot water or a hot washcloth for humans, presumably a hot pack for cats; you can make one by putting dry rice in a sock, tying the end of the sock closed, and heating it in the microwave.
• The temperature of the hot water/hot pack should be as high as the patient can tolerate without pain.  Do not burn the patient.  (I know, that's obvious.  Sometimes the obvious should be stated anyway.)  If done properly, after the cold, the heat should feel extremely good to the patient.
• Repeat as many times as the patient likes, or as the P.T. advises.
• Make sure the patient is thoroughly dry and covered afterwards, again, to prevent chill.

I hope all of this helps.  Feel free to ask me any questions you like, but, once again, your veterinary physical therapist is your best source for answers.

Margret

 

[dextelph]

So it looks like our 16 month old male (funnily enough also called Dexter) has this issue too.

We noticed intermittent limping (back right leg) about 3 weeks ago but it was undiagnosed after two visits to our vets (they thought it was a soft tissue injury initially) until last Friday when the vet picked him up and accidentally popped the leg back in.

He's been for X rays today and although we haven't spoken to the vet properly, it looks like both kneecaps may be affected! He also has a sister so presumably if he is affected then its heredity so his sister will probably follow quite quickly too. What a nightmare.

What is the recovery time like for each leg? We have looked at cages and have found a couple of 'nice' ones that would be big enough for a bed, somewhere for his food and also a small litter tray. How long will he have to stay in there for? Presumably with both legs being an issue, we are looking at 4-6 months of him being pulled about, operated on and resting? Sounds like it's going to be difficult because he will absolutely hate it (the resting part - he doesn't mind the car or the vets)

Whilst I am happy that it appears to be a physical injury only and not caused by anything more sinister, its pretty horrible to think what he's going to have to go through over the next few months.

The biggest plus is that we have pet insurance which looks like the best £200 odd we've ever spent!

 

[catpack]

Fully recovery depends on a few things. Holly's knees were done one at a time. I was initially told that it would be 6 weeks, but she did really well and the second surgery was done 4 weeks later.

Your estimate of 4-6 months is pretty spot on for full recovery.

Also, while this is usually a genetic issue, I personally have yet to have more than one cat from a litter require surgery (yet.) We've had 2 with luxating patellas and I have a Maine Coon with hip dysplasia (also genetic and something this breed is known for) and not one of his litter mates has an issue.

 

[Margret]

Remember, all mammals have two parents.  And just because cats are from the same litter doesn't mean they're from the same father.  I would expect litter mates to have the same chance of inheriting something as other siblings from different litters.

Margret

 

[dextelph]

Thanks for everyone's replies.

Dexter is currently in surgery - they're doing his right knee.

We need to ring for a progress report in an hour.

We have a cage at home for him, all set up for his return.

 

[pushylady]

:cross: I hope the surgery is going fine!

 

[dextelph]

Thank you.

We spoke to the vets and he's awake and fine!

 

[zed xyzed]

Hoping he has a quick and full recovery. I am glad that the surgery went well 

 

[dcat]

 
Hi Catpack,

Would like to hear further from you (and anyone else in this thread) how Holly and others are are doing since their surgeries. 

2 years and one month after my Dexter's double patella surgery,he is awesome, athletic and just caught a mouse!

We are soooooooo glad we could afford it and that we did both knees at the same time to reduce the Hell of recovery. 

Make sure you use a Vet who has experience with this type of surgery. it is very common in small dogs due to inbreeding and many Vets can do this well. 

 

[dcat]

Hi again! A question for those who've had the surgeries. Maila is now 4 months past the first knee surgery and 2 months past the second one. I have her still in her crate at night when I sleep and when I go to work, but otherwise she roams in the room free. The bed is a very low futon and I've allowed her to jump on it. She's also started to jump up on top if her crate, the rascal! She is showing no signs of it bothering her and no more limp. The her said it would take 4-6 months PER KNEE to be ok for more activity like jumping. But I feel that's kind of too long. Did anyone keep their cat basically inactive for 4-6 months?

way too long. My Dexter had double patella surgery and we let him out of the crate after a month and full access to the house after about 10 weeks. No hot/cold therapies or anything of the sort. He is as good as new.

 

[dextelph]

Can anyone tell me how their cat behaved over the week or so after the op please?

He's mainly in the cage but we do let him out in the evenings. He hops about a bit but generally feels sorry for himself. He's eaten a lot - up until last night anyway - and is drinking and going to the toilet.

Since last night he doesn't seem interested in eating though. We have a follow up appointment at the vets on Saturday morning... Wondering whether to get an earlier one now?

 

[Margret]

None of my cats have had this surgery.  But if he was enjoying his food after the surgery but has suddenly stopped eating, I'd be very concerned.  Perhaps you should give your vet a call in the morning and ask whether he needs to be seen immediately.

Margret